Al Sharpton Group Cancels Vaccine Event After Complaints: Reports

HARLEM, NY — A Harlem "vaccine forum" planned by Al Sharpton's National Action Network was canceled after medical professionals sounded the alarm that most of its speakers belong to the anti-vaccine movement, according to reports.

When National Action Network organizers determined that the event would not provide "multiple viewpoints" on the issue of vaccines it was canceled, a spokesperson for the group told Gothamist. Among the list of speakers at the National Action Network's event were Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — an attorney leading the fight against New York's recently-passed law eliminating religious exemptions for vaccines in public schools — and radio host Gary Null, who is an outspoken anti-vaxxer and AIDS denier.

Sharpton told Buzzfeed that he wasn't sure if he was going to attend the event, but a pamphlet advertised the Harlem community leader as a "keynote speaker." Sharpton also downplayed the controversial, medically-dubious opinions of the invited speakers.

"We said both sides must be heard — we haven’t taken a position yet," Sharpton told Buzzfeed.

The event drew widespread condemnation from medical professionals. Many called Sharpton's organization irresponsible for hosting the event given its prominence among people of color. Dr. Oliver T. Brooks, an expert on immunology, likened the anti-vaccination movement's targeting of African-Americans to the Tuskegee Study in an interview with Gothamist.

"There is already a distrust in the African-American community of government, of pharmaceutical companies and of general research due to things that have happened..that are legitimate concerns," Brooks told Gothamist.

Read the full Gothamist report here.